March 17 Grammar and Syntax; Spelling

Today's Agenda and This Week's Spelling List

 

 

For AM I and II, we went over different punctuations and their function. We discussed how a period is used for a "telling sentence"; a question mark for a "question sentence"; and an exclamation point for an exclamatory sentence. I also briefly explained proper capitalization: ALWAYS capitalize at the beginning of a sentence; ALWAYS capitalize names of special places and people, and most importantly, the personal "I" (pronoun -- which I will not go into just yet). I, then, assessed their newly learned knowledge by dictating simple sentences to which they are required to write correctly by using the appropriate punctuation, and capitalization in the correct places. Spelling did not count. "Oh, my goodness, that's a huge tree!", "Do you like pie?" and "Meg and I went to the mall" (period at the end) are a few examples I've used. In assessing the children in groups (AM) I and II, they still need more practice. If the children can understand the basic structure of a sentence and know how to correctly write sentences, grammar will be added, such as conjunctions.

Speaking of which...

AM III and PM both have learned how to build complete, and grammatically correct sentences using a conjunction by looking at spelling words. For example: "I like blue, but red is my favorite." Here's my personal favorite by one of my students: "Handwriting has curls and curves." The children were to "check" their sentences by splitting them into two parts and each part has to sound like a "real" sentence. Here's how to "check":

I like blue but red is my favorite.

Now split them into two separate parts without the conjunction:

I like blue. Red is my favorite.

Handwriting has curls and curves.

Now split them apart, turning them into two sentences, and eliminating the conjunction and:

Handwriting has curls. Handwriting has curves.

 

Both groups had a fun time doing this. We'll have more practice.

A few of the children in AM and all of the PM children also worked on alphabetizing their spelling words. As we didn't have enough time today, we'll continue tomorrow. Please make sure they all have their spelling words.

 

AM I:

1. volume

2. produce

3. consume

4. blue

5. true

6. clue

7. glue

8. due

9. argue

10. influence

11. nurse

12. curve

13. turn

14. burn

15. curl

16. purse

 

AM II and III

1. compare

2. contrast

3. timeline

4. country

5. ocean

6. motion

7. ancestor

8. urban

9. suburban

10. rural

11. little

12. services

13. system

14. resources

15. offspring

16. action

 

PM I

1. next

2. checked

3. father

4. grade

5. reach

6. thought

7. along

8. something

9. laugh

10. between

11. earth

12. flight

13. write

14. knock

15. value

 

 

PM II

1. giraffe

2. behavior

3. choice

4. voice

5. royal

6. extinct

7. resemble

8. disappear

9. polygon

10. integer

11. idea

12. enough

13. cycle

14. appearance

15. octagon